Fundraising Sprint

This is a 7-week sprint that condenses fundraising preparation from months to weeks, designed for early-stage founders who aim to secure funding Q1 2026.

Ready. Set. Raise.

Apply in 10 Minutes

Fundraising feels like throwing darts in the dark. You're getting conflicting advice, burning months on low-conversion tactics, and watching your runway shrink while investors ghost you.

The hidden truth? There's a playbook to fundraising, but most founders waste 6-12 months figuring it out the hard way.

What we’ve built for you: 

Two children are crawling on the floor, each holding a notebook, as part of a cleaning activity with mops.

The Fundraising Sprint is a collaborative program that condenses months of fundraising preparation into weeks. We help you build the three pillars of a successful round:

  1. Fundraising Materials — Present your company as venture-ready

  2. Pitching & Investor Comms — Show your team as venture-backable

  3. Authentic FOMO — Demonstrate real investor demand

This isn't a self-guided course. You'll work alongside a curated cohort of equally ambitious founders, with direct coaching from experienced operators who've been exactly where you are.

Only 0.05% of companies successfully raise venture capital.

Our founders beat those odds by 1,400x.

  • 70% of our founders meet their funding goal within 3 months of the program.

  • The average round closed: $1.28M

  • Total capital raised by our founders: $80M+

“Quinn and Adam didn’t just give me coaching—they gave me a process. One that replaced guesswork with clarity, confidence, and precision. Other founders kept saying, ‘You’re raising your pre-seed with the diligence of a Series A.’ I shudder to think of the rookie mistakes I would’ve made without them.”

-Leni

7-Weeks of Fundraising Focus

    • Earn 60-120+ investor introductions

    • Optimized deck and fundraising materials

    • Prepared and confident to pitch investors

    • Avoid the potholes of fundraising

    • 7 Coach-Guided Discussion Group Sessions

    • Weekly Coach-Led Pitch Practice

    • Scheduled Curriculum to guide your fundraising effort (Podcast-style Content)

    • Guest Speakers - live and recorded

    • 24/7 Access to our Online Community Platform with:

      • Private online space for cohort collaboration: sharing wins, lessons, and more 

      • Spot coaching from Quinn & Adam -  like chat support

      • A library of vetted resources

    • Build your investor list, land meetings, and become a fundraising machine

    • Refine your pitch materials; access our templates & custom CRM

    • Hone your process and pitch with direct coaching and guidance

    • Fuel your momentum with peer support & peer motivation - don’t do it alone

    • Understand investor decision-making and psyche

    • Develop a strong network of fellow founders for ongoing support

    • You are raising your first or second non-family & friends round - typically pre-seed, seed, or Series A ($500K-$25M+)

    • You are looking to run a tight process and close your raise late summer/ fall

    • You already have a rough draft pitch deck, traction (enough to raise), the team, and the product 

  • The sprint cost breakdown:

    • Fundraising Sprint: $2000

    • Payment plans and deferrals are available on a needs basis.

Apply now

Fall 2025 Deadlines:

Applications Open: October 15th

Sprint Start: November 3rd (Orientation October 30th)

  • "10/10. The sprint was extremely helpful to understand the VC game. I wish I had found it even earlier, it would have saved me a lot of time. I would estimate 100h at least and $20k+. They have a unique ability to see the best in participants and help them frame it for a fundraising advantage.”

    -Misha

  • “I highly recommend this program. You’ll learn a lot about how to run a tight fundraising process, refine your pitch, and set the right mindset. Quinn and Adam are incredible coaches who will set you up for success no matter where you’re at in your fundraising journey.”

    -Mary-Ann

  • “I never ran a process before working with Quinn and Adam. And they made it easy, it was a lot of work but the consistent effort paid off in more investor calls than I’ve ever taken in a 4 week period. My only regret is not having signed up sooner.”

    -Ndonga

Meet your coaches

We have been in your shoes, raised 5 rounds of funding for our own startups (from Lerer Hippeau, Pear Ventures, Founder Collective, Y Combinator, Natalie Portman, Reign Ventures, Underscore, Ludlow, and more), sold our companies, received some awards (Time Best Invention. FastCo Most Innovative), coached over 50 founders directly, mentored at Techstars and Harvard ilab, and helped founders raise over $63M in funding.

A woman with long, curly hair wearing glasses and a black blazer, smiling at the camera.

Quinn Fitzgerald

 Quinn Fitzgerald is a founder coach and mission-driven entrepreneur who helps early-stage founders lead with clarity, resilience, and courage. She founded and sold Flare, a VC-backed women’s safety tech company recognized by Time and Fast Company, and previously served in the Obama White House. Quinn holds an MBA from Harvard Business School, where she won the New Venture Competition.

 

Blending startup expertise with deep inner work, she coaches a referral-only roster of founders backed by firms like Andreessen Horowitz, Bessemer, YC, Khosla, Lowercarbon, Reach, Collab, Techstars, Flybridge, VMG, and Chevron. Quinn serves as an unbiased sounding board for everyday and big decisions, from someone who has been there before.

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Adam Roberts

Adam Roberts was an Athlete (five years on the USA Sailing Team) before becoming the first sales hire at inDinero, helping them achieve their first $1 million in revenue. After his time at inDinero, Adam founded his own company, Paid Labs, and participated in Y Combinator’s Summer 2014 batch. Before being acquired, he was backed by top-tier early-stage funds, including Pear Ventures and Founder Collective. 


Following the sale of Paid Labs, Adam re-discovered his passion for early-stage fundraising while at Wefunder as an Entrepreneur in Residence, which inspired him to launch Lifted.vc. Lifted has now helped founders raise over $40M in pre-seed and seed funding.

The Schedule:

Rolling Interviews Start October 16th.

10 MINUTE APPLICATION

Our Coaching Philosophy

  • Founder-Focused: We've been in your shoes and understand your challenges.

  • Unbiased Sounding Board: honest feedback and guidance to reach your goals

  • No Ego: Our coaching isn’t driven by our own egos or experience bias, and we have no problem if you throw it in your mental trash bin.

  • Dual: We provide tactical strategies to get things done and mental support to navigate the emotional rollercoaster of fundraising.

  • Engaging: Fundraising can suck, but we make it deliberately enjoyable and interactive.

  • Direct: You don't have time to waste. We cut to the chase and help you get results.

Frequently asked questions

  • We created by far the most cost effective and comprehensive 7-week high-touch fundraising prep program (ever?)

    Sprint: $2,000 

    Payment plans and deferrals available on a needs basis

  • First things first, we are NOT an accelerator.  We purposefully do not take equity in your startup because we want to remain unbiased and solely focused on your fundraising goals. 

    We are not here to be business advisors. We take a deep fundraising focus, from a founder perspective (as we are founders). We purposefully built the most founder-friendly terms possible for the Sprint, because we want this knowledge and coaching to be accessible. The Fundraising Sprint, to our knowledge, is the highest-converting and least expensive option on the market. 

    But also, no! Exchanging equity instead of cash does not make it free—your equity is worth millions of dollars.

    To be clear, accelerators are awesome and in many cases, more than worth it. We have had many accelerator alums participate in our sprints.

  • Right now, you don’t! But we help you evaluate. We do not accept founders who do not have a high chance of success. Why? It’s a question of ethics - as founders-turned-coaches we see far too many people taking advantage of early-stage founders out there. Also, we care about our conversion rate and insist on maintaining improving on our already high 70% post-program funding rate.

  • Yes!

    We ONLY select teams that we strongly believe will be able to successfully fundraise within 6 months.

  • Early-stage fundraising is an extremely human-centric process. It is not naturally scalable, and every fundraising effort will be a time-intensive experience. Without a fundraising strategy founders end up spinning their wheels and making critical errors. The sprint is designed to help you save time by focusing on the right things at the right time.


    Here is a breakdown of what we see as a weekly average commit:

    • Sprint Meetings: 2-3

    • Sprint Content: 1-2 

    • Asynchronous work (sourcing, networking, connector meetings, etc) : 20-60

    • Time we are saving you: Not hours, not days… Months! 

      • The average time to close after the program was 2.5 months

  • A common misconception is that fundraising begins when you start pitching. This results in infrequent pitches and an inability to drive momentum and urgency with investors. 

    The prep is just as important as the pitching itself. Set yourself up for success by ensuring you are getting in front of thesis-fit investors, at volume, in a short amount of time, with the messaging that performs.

  • Ask us! This is a highly complex question – there are numerous variables that contribute to this decision. Just to name a few…


    • Market timing

    • Revenue

    • Product readiness

    • Traction

    • How much do you need to raise— now and later

    • Long-term funding outlook: what do you need to raise and when?

MADE IT THIS FAR? APPLY! → 

10 MINUTE APPLICATION